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The Who have announced they will embark on a 36-date Quadrophenia tour this fall, performing their 1973 rock opera in its entirety. The band's first North American tour in four years will kick off on November 1st in Sunrise, Florida, and wrap on February 26th in Providence, Rhode Island.

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The band last took Quadrophenia on the road in 1996 and 1997. "We've been anxious to work together before we drop dead," Townshend said in a press conference with bandmate Roger Daltrey in London today. Added Daltrey, "I don't know how many more years I'll be able to sing this music." (He's made similar comments before: In 1982, when the Who announced a farewell tour of the U.S., Daltrey told Rolling Stone, "I feel that our type of rock & roll is prehistoric . . . The gesture of a last tour is a good, positive thing.")

In a statement, Pete Townshend said, "I really love playing all of it. It's a unique piece for me . . . Some Who music is nightmarish to perform live. Roger has some very tough songs to sing, and he must have preferences. But for me on guitar, everything falls under the fingers. It flows naturally, and I always feel proud of my achievement as the writer, that I put it all together and gave the band a third wind."

Before heading out on tour, the band will be featured in the finale of the Olympics. "We've recorded a piece of music which I think is a fabulous ending for the Olympics," Daltrey said. "This country put some fabulous music into the world. It wasn't really about the Who being on a TV show. It's about just making great music that is applicable to the end of that event, where you've had people who have given the last eight years of their lives to be there on that field doing their thing."

Townshend also took a dig at Bruce Springsteen while discussing the prospect of new Who music. "As soon as I put [the memoir] down I went back to music and writing all the time. The only thing is I'm not sure whether you can rubber-stamp it as Who music ... when you look at other artists, as a Bruce Springsteen fan from the start, I want to hear him within the framework of what I believe to be great Bruce Springsteen. I don't want him playing that hillbilly music, all that he-haw on the Hudson River nonsense."

Tickets will go on sale through the Who's official fan club at 10 a.m. July 20th and to the public on Friday, July 27th.